News about agriculture in New York State and information farmers and consumers can use in their daily lives.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Horses Exposed to Equine Herpes Located at Aqueduct Racetrack

From the state Department of Agriculture and Markets:

Two
horses that were potentially exposed to an Equine Herpes Type 1 (EHV-1)
positive horse at Parx Racing in Bensalem, PA, have been located at
Aqueduct Racetrac.k

At this time, these horses have been examined by a
veterinarian and are not showing signs of illness. These horses will be
in isolation off-track with daily monitoring by Commission and New York
Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) officials. The horses that were in the
same barn at Aqueduct as these potentially exposed horses are also being
closely monitored daily for signs of illness by track officials.

EHV-1
is a common viral infection which can cause respiratory disease,
abortion in broodmares, death in newborn foals and in rare instances, a
neurological form of herpes. It may be spread by close contact with an
infected horse or by objects contaminated by an infected horse. The
virus does not affect people.

If
you are the owner, trainer or caretaker of a horse that has been at
Parx Racing in the past two weeks, or believe your horse has been
potentially exposed to EHV-1, the following guidelines are recommended:

**If
you wish to test your horse, consult your veterinarian. At this time,
the preferred test is PCR analysis performed on nasal swab specimens.
Blood samples may also be tested.

** The
decision to test a horse not showing signs of disease should not be
taken lightly. Due to the ubiquitous nature of EHV-1, many horses will
test positive for presence of the virus and not develop the disease.
Also, a single negative test has limited value in demonstrating whether
or not a horse will become ill or may be shedding the virus.